Monday, June 19, 2006

The Left and the Blathersphere: Alexander Cockburn gets in some sharp jabs at the left 'blogosphere'. There is a lot of good stuff there but a significant element of it seems to be increasingly dedicated to Democrat election campaigns. Who could be interested in that? Not even many Americans, much less the rest of the world. The blogosphere is not radical enough. I think they underestimate the importance of solidarity and grassroots consciousness raising. As some blogs become progressively more involved in Democrat politics they also become progressively less interesting and less progressive altogether. Of course under the primitive US electoral system, with no preferential voting (not to mention proportional representation) there is a strong disincentive to the building of any alternative. Its largely Democrats or nothing.

The Left and the Blathersphere: Alexander Cockburn gets in some sharp jabs at the left 'blogosphere'. There is a lot of good stuff there but a significant element of it seems to be increasingly dedicated to Democrat election campaigns. Who could be interested in that? Not even many Americans, much less the rest of the world. The blogosphere is not radical enough. I think they underestimate the importance of solidarity and grassroots consciousness raising. As some blogs become progressively more involved in Democrat politics they also become progressively less interesting and less progressive altogether. Of course under the primitive US electoral system, with no preferential voting (not to mention proportional representation) there is a strong disincentive to the building of any alternative. Its largely Democrats or nothing.